Don’t you just LOVE getting surprises in the mail! It’s my absolute favorite! I would rather not know if a little package is coming just so I can be surprised when I get to my mailbox. About a week ago (in the chaos of our little accident) I walked down to get the mail and what to you know, to my surprise there was the sweetest little package! I am so excited to finally share it and to start a little cookbook challenge for myself! I hope you’ll join in too!!

The background on this I’ve spoke of before… but we have a very close family friend who lost her niece Krystal to brain cancer this year. Our friend truly is one of the most thoughtful people I know. I have mentioned her excellent cooking skills in this recipe post. She is always so kind to me and I am delighted that she thought of me when she saw this. Losing her niece was so very tough on her (and the family) I know from personal experience healing can be quite the long experience, but I have hopes that her heart heals quickly and she can began to only think of the happy times.

Since our friend is such a thoughtful woman she has been helping with the process of sorting through some of Krystal’s things. This includes her cookbooks. So last week, I opened the surprise package to find this book. Hmmm… what is this all about I thought?

In a lovely note, {which I will keep tucked in this book forever}, was a very sweet explanation why I was chosen to receive this gift. Lets be honest here… I cried a few tears when I discovered it’s history but was quickly filled with gratitude and happiness that I could be the next one to share this with my family. Krystal was also a blogger {here & here}, from what I’ve heard she was very passionate about cooking and caring for her family. With 3 little ones she was a great mom who wanted to provide the best possible foods and instill good habits in her children {as does all of us moms right}. I feel lucky to get to follow in her footsteps some and use this book in my healthy eating adventures! And I can’t wait to start cooking it’s recipes, especially the ones on the dogeared pages.

So now here is my challenge… please feel free to join in or start your own! I am currently reading the introduction and writing a few shopping lists. But starting April 1st I would like to cook one recipe a week from this book. I’m not to sure how many months I’ll last but I’m willing to try for as long as possible, especially with over 200 recipes in this thing! I can’t wait to share a weekly recipe with you all. Let’s hope my husband survives hahaha…